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Road To Flourishing

In positive psychology, flourishing refers to an optimal state of being. It’s about living a rich life filled with social, emotional and psychological well-being. In this collection, we have gathered the courses we believe to be an important part of reaching the state of flourishing.

9 courses

Courses in this collection:

1

DIY Creativity Camp

Exercises to help you flex your creativity muscle and be creative on demand.

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any,” said Alice Walker

Can the same be said for creativity? Can we say that the most common way for people to dismiss creativity is to say they don’t have any? How many times have you thought of yourself as “not a creative” person? What is creative anyway? Is a painter creative? How about an accountant?

Our opinion is that everyone can be creative - and that includes both the painter and the accountant. (Notice that we didn’t say artistic.)

Michelangelo (the sculptor, not the ninja turtle) is believed to have said “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and in action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

What if we start from the premise that there is a creative person in every one of us, waiting patiently to be revealed in all its glory? And put to work. That creative person is no slacker.

Not everyone may feel like that. In this course, we’ll start from the assumption that we are all creative. And you’ll have to start from that assumption too. If you don’t believe that (yet), then do us a favor and apply a little bit of suspension of disbelief for the next two weeks. If you do believe it, GREAT! Either way, we’ll have some fun together. Every day, you'll receive a creative exercise that will take ten minutes or less. Your only assignment is to have fun doing it.

Do you know someone who always seems to land on their feet no matter what happens? Someone who seems calm and secure even when facing love problems, rejection or stressful times at work?

Perhaps this person enjoys a high-level of self-compassion.

Self-compassion is about treating yourself with kindness and understanding through small and big setbacks in life. Psychologically speaking, it’s about creating a safe space within, so that you can comfort yourself when faced with failure.

We are often better at comforting and supporting others than we are at taking care of ourselves. That's why the inner dialogue of a person with high ambitions can be quite critical, even when what we could really use is support and a pat on the back.

So, what does your own inner voice sound like when you’re dealing with hardships? Is it kind and encouraging, or is it more like a high school bully?

If you know that you are too hard on yourself, take this course and learn how to take better care of yourself while increasing your own resilience. You also will learn about why you might have a tendency to deal with setbacks by criticizing yourself (and how you can learn to comfort yourself instead).

Lastly, you will learn about the four behavioral systems that evolved in prehistoric times and still govern how we feel and behave.

Chances are you will become more aware of how you treat yourself starting from the very first lesson. After 15 days, we hope that you will have learned what you need to do in order to become a more secure person.

This course is designed for those who have always been a little too self-critical. Perhaps others view you as a positive and considerate person – just not when it comes to yourself.

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Said about the course:

"I enjoyed Brené Browns talk on self-compassion but I find this course to be so much more applicable. I can honestly say that each lesson is an eye-opener and I must admit that some lessons made me shed a tear or two"

It is obvious that perfectionism might have its benefits. People who strive towards perfection in everything they do tend to produce a perfect result ... sometimes. However, these benefits are only short term gains. Downsides of perfectionism include never living up to the expectations you put on yourself or getting annoyed when your coworkers aren't living up to your high expectations.

Lastly, perfectionists tend not to be the most likable team mates.

This course is for you if:

You tend to give yourself a hard time because of your high demands;

You have a hard time getting stuff done because you want everything you do to be absolutely perfect;

You often get angry at people around you because of their lack of perfectionism.

This course will also help if you live with a perfectionist and want to help him or her overcome it.

You'll learn what we mean by perfectionism, when perfectionism is dangerous and when it's useful and how it affects our well-being.

When you are done with the course, you will know what to do in order to cure your perfectionism.

Can’t stop opening your email? Do you have more than ten tabs open right now? Are you planning what to cook for dinner while reading this sentence?

If you have answered yes to any of the above, you just might have a problem with multitasking.

A problem? Yes, modern research offers clear evidence that multitasking is far from effective. In this course, you will learn why. You’ll also be given ten simple exercises that will help you stop multitasking and start monotasking.

This course builds on research from behavioral economics, cognitive neuroscience, and behavioral psychology to get you on your way to a monotasking work-style.

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Said about the course:

"I love the concept of monotasking! It has changed how I work entirely – I get more done but somehow leave work earlier than before!!"

Many of us have quite a critical attitude toward ourselves. Some of us might even address ourselves with a harsh, demanding voice inside, constantly reminding ourselves that we’re never good enough. Or telling ourselves "Now, pull yourself together!”.

These are the words we’d never ever say to anyone else, not even to our worst enemy. Are you one of us? Do you ever listen to the voice inside or to how it makes you feel? Self-criticism, researchers have found, can be as stressful as being criticized by someone else.

By practicing self-compassion, you can calm yourself down and cultivate a far more sustainable sense of well-being than the thrive for self-esteem. It does even make you perform better than motivating yourself with your inner critic.

The number of scientific papers on self-compassion has increased exponentially since 2003, when the research was initiated by professor Kristin Neff at the University of Texas. And since Kristin Neff and psychologist Christopher Germer established the program Mindful Self-compassion in 2010, it has spread all over the world. Starting this year, you can become a self-compassion teacher not only in English but in German, Spanish, Chinese and Korean.

In this e-mail course, you will meet these pioneers as a bonus along the way. Swedish author and journalist Agneta Lagercrantz, who has created the Daily Bits of Self-compassion, has interviewed them all: psychology professor Kristin Neff, psychologist and mindfulness instructor Christopher Germer, meditation teacher Tara Brach, MSC- (Mindful Self-compassion) teachers Christine Braehler, Michelle Becker and Steven Hackman. The course is based on Agneta Lagercrantz’s book Self-compassion (in Swedish) and her public talks on the subject.

***Over 5000 users are learning about the science of people from Vanessa's courses. It's easy to join them!***

Conversations are like sports.

Just like in any sport, you have to hone your conversational muscles if you want to be good at them. You train for difficult topics. You re-play miscommunications in your head.

And just like elite athletes, you need a conversational game plan.

The art and science of sparkling conversations is one of our most requested topics at the Science of People. So a few months ago, I decided to do a bit of research on the topic to write this course for you.

How can you engage in effective and memorable conversations with anyone you meet?

I will show you that there is both an art and a science to effective communication.

I have broken down the structure of a conversation into 10 steps that will take your average interactions and make them awesome ones.

I’m Vanessa Van Edwards, and my goal with this course is to teach you to be the most memorable person in the room, for the right reasons.

Let’s do it!

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Said about the course:

"So many fun, quirky and effective exercises. The ten days you spend with this course will be interesting...to say the least!"

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8

Live Your Dream

Insights, tools and inspiration to guide you in finding and living your dream life

Are you happy? I mean truly happy – with all things in life? Do you live your dream life? Are you with your dream partner or are you single by choice? Do you have the family you always longed for? Do you go to work every day full of joy and bliss?

If not, then this course is for you. This course will help you visualize your dream life. It will help you see the possibilities and it will help you see what your life purpose is. Your true calling. It's never too late to continue.

And even if you lead a happy life there is always room for improvement and inspiration to receive.

The course is free and is delivered daily to your inbox for 14 days. Please enter your email address below and away you go! It is as simple as that.

"You create your own universe as you go along" - Winston Churchill

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9

Assertive Communication

How to express your ideas and stand up for your opinion

This is a free course for you who want to:

Learn how to say no without guilt

Express your ideas

Or who just want to stand up for yourself in life, relationships and on the job

Some people have a passive style of communication, some an aggressive and some might even have a passive-aggressive style. The most functional of styles is definitely the assertive way.

This course won’t turn you into the most assertive person in the world, but it’s one small step to learning this way of communication. Sign up using your email and you are on your way!